How possible is it for the state to steer family values and relationships? How do we assess claims of harm and benefit from state action and inaction? What kind of engagement should we seek between the state and our personal lives? The evidence presented includes state engagements with separating couples, lone parents, retired people, black families, disabled people, pregnant teenagers and young people negotiating adulthood. The range of perspectives, data, and cross-nation-state comparisons, helps readers to come to their own conclusions.
List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors The Family and the State: an Introduction; L.Jamieson & S.Cunningham-Burley PART ONE: DEBATING FAMILY STATE RELATIONS The State and the Family; J.Finch Family Life, Moral Regulation and the State: Social Steering and the Personal Sphere; J.J.Rodger Family Breakdown, Individualism and the Issue of the Relationship between Family Law and Behaviour in Post-War Britain; J.Lewis PART TWO: THE FAMILY AND THE STATE ACROSS THE LIFECOURSE Lone Parents and Child Support: Parental and State Responsibilities; K.Clarke Family Change and the Ageing Welfare State; A.Tapper PART THREE: CHALLENGING THE STATE FRAMING OF SOCIAL ISSUES Black Families and Survivial Strategies; B.Prevatt-Goldstein And One Man in his Time Plays Many Parts: The Five Ages of Impairment; T.Shakespeare & N.Watson Scapegoating and Moral Panics: Teenage Pregnancy in Britain and the United States 1959-1999; P.Selman Youth, Dependence and the Problem of Support; G.Jones
